The Rap Star [EN]: Chapter 273

< Verse 42. 2009 (End) >

***

Everyone knew that the Grammys were the most popular awards show in the United States and the most prestigious in the world.

So, it was only natural that sub-content such as ‘Grammy A To Z’, ‘Grammy Highlight’, and ‘Grammy Best Performance’ poured out immediately after the Grammys ended.

Most media outlets viewed the breakthrough of Black music as the main focus of the 2009 Grammy Awards.

The Grammy Awards featured the most Black musicians ever nominated, invited, and performing.

Nevertheless, the prevailing assessment was that the Grammys’ conservatism had not completely collapsed.

No Black musicians won any of the main awards.

Lil Wayne’s ‘Carter III’ sold more than five times as much as , which won Album of the Year, and received the most nominations, but ultimately only swept the hip-hop field.

However, regardless of the award results, it was also true that the highlights of this year’s Grammy Awards were focused on hip-hop.

The collaboration between Coldplay and Jay-Z’s band and hip-hop, which won the main award, Song Of The Year.

The emergence of the Golden New Era team’s MTB REMIX like a comet.

Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and T.I.’s Swagga Like US, performed with a pregnant female vocalist, M.I.A.

However, the stage that produced the most sub-content was the stage of Eminem, FiveSix, and 50Cent.

***

2009 Grammy A To Z.

-A : Adele

The wave of British female musicians following Amy Winehouse is still strong. Adele beat Duffy, the Jonas Brothers, Golden New Era, and Jazmine Sullivan to win the Grammy main award for Best New Artist.

-B : Black Music

The 2009 Grammy Awards was an awards ceremony that showed how far Black music had come and how much further it could go.

In particular, the Golden New Era’s stage received applause for bringing up the issue of racial discrimination, one of the important topics in hip-hop. It is encouraging that it dealt not only with discrimination against Black people but also against Asians and people of mixed race.
.
.
-E : Eminem

What long words are needed? He’s back.

With the production of Dr. Dre, who had been with him since his debut, the help of 50Cent, whom he had saved, and FiveSix, who brought a new wave, were together.

Looking forward to , which is about to be released.

-F : FiveSix

The movement of the rap star from Korea, a small country in the East, is unusual.

When he overcame prejudice with his skills in the LA hip-hop scene and created an issue with the Curtain Call Tour lineup, his image was still strong as a flash in the pan. However, after that, when he put his name on the Billboard charts with rappers from LA and showed an amazing stage on The X Factor, he already felt like a complete rapper.

But that wasn’t the end. FiveSix, who appeared at the Grammy Awards, felt not like a complete rapper but like a complete rap star.

His next move is expected at the end of the Grammy Awards.
.
.
-M : MTB

It’s not a typo of MTV. It is an abbreviation of Golden New Era’s album .

MTB, which recorded platinum without any special promotion, met the huge promotion of the Grammy Awards.

Already, Kendrick Lamar’s solo track and J. Cole’s solo track have entered the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time, and FiveSix’s solo track, No Color, has once again entered the top 40.

Additional sales are expected to be recorded thereafter.
.
.
-X : X-Factor

The X Factor probably doesn’t like the Grammy Awards.

They had a clever plan to hold an audition program during the recession of the US record market, but they didn’t even think that their stage could be compared to the Grammys.
.
.
-Z : Zero

There are more ‘uncrowned kings’ who have not received a single award at the Grammy Awards than you think.

Bon Jovi, a super band that is absolutely popular, has not received a single award at the Grammy Awards. He received an award in 2005 for a country album he sang with Sugarland, but strictly speaking, it is difficult to see it as an award he received in Bon Jovi’s music world.

Michael Jackson was also a musician who was ignored by the Grammy Awards except for the album . Michael Jackson’s album , which contains the most Billboard No. 1 singles (5) on one album, did not receive a single Grammy Award.

This time, Golden New Era’s MTB wore the crown of the uncrowned.

MTB, which is creating the most issues after the Grammy Awards, was nominated in 4 categories but ultimately failed to win.

Whether it is discrimination against Black music, as some fans say, or discrimination against Asians and Blacks, will have to be confirmed at next year’s Grammy Awards.

***

GRAMMY A TO Z, released by the famous music magazine Rolling Stone, had a lot of stories about rap music to the extent that it was called G’RAP’MY A To Z by the public.

Among them, there were many stories about Sanghyun and other Golden New Era members.

Sanghyun was confused as to whether this was the power of Hadel Raines or the attention really focused on them.

“President Ha. Did you pull a lower card by any chance?”

“Lower Card? What are you talking about?”

“Oh, are you cheating from the first game?”

“What the hell are you saying?”

However, after listening to Sanghyun’s explanation, Hadel Raines emphasized that there was no promotion in Rolling Stone.

In fact, there were some errors in some parts of the article to see if Hadel had intervened. The fact that he participated in the Curtain Call Tour as a lineup and that Jay Cole was from LA were like that.

However, since it was not a serious error, the Golden New Era members were amazed that Rolling Stone was paying so much attention to them.

However, a few days later, a problematic error began to be mentioned.

It was Sanghyun’s lip-syncing controversy.

-FiveSix, lip-syncing at the Grammy Awards?

The first to ignite the controversy was ‘The Problem’, one of the newspapers that throws out tabloids in Korea.

The Problem was a newspaper that threw out tabloids, but whether it was lucky or had good information, it was a media outlet with a surprisingly decent hit rate.

In addition, according to the contents of The Problem’s article, it was said that they heard it from famous singers and famous producers who attended the Grammys.

The Problem’s management motto was ‘We reveal the facts inside, but we don’t make up lies.’ In other words, they can be deceived by false information, but they do not make up information.

Thanks to this, the controversy began to spread little by little.

“It’s because you’re so good.”

“Yeah. I would be dubious even if it were me.”

Jay Cole and Kendrick showed a reaction that it was no big deal.

They thought it would be a passing happening because Sanghyun had performed on The X Factor before the Grammy Awards.

However, The X Factor remained silent when asked if Sanghyun’s stage was really live.

Sanghyun, who had turned The X Factor finals into a ‘so-so stage’, could not have looked pretty.

-What? The second Milli Vanilli?

-I knew it. The sound was too clean.

-What crazy 소리 [sori – sound] is this? Anyone who has seen FiveSix’s live performance in LA at least once will agree with me. His live performance is amazing.

-How do you know that was lip-syncing too?

-Back when he participated in Compton Black Block, FiveSix was a discriminated Asian, so how could he lip-sync?

-That’s something you don’t know. Maybe there was a label backing him up at that time too.

As far as Sanghyun was concerned, the lip-syncing controversy was heating up to the point where it was absurd.

‘What’s going on?’

Sanghyun was the type who would ask a fellow musician for doubling, but he didn’t even play a backup track well.

All the performances he did in the United States were like that. Moreover, the Grammy Awards was an awards ceremony where lip-syncing was absolutely not allowed.

However, the current situation was that the controversy was spreading as if someone was deliberately fanning the flames. Even some media outlets, not gossip media outlets, were secretly getting involved.

A few days later, Sanghyun was able to find out who was fanning the flames while sweating profusely.

-MTB REMIX, which decorated the Grammy Awards, released a live version single!

-A single that immediately quelled the controversy.

-Eminem, “FiveSix’s live performance is the highest level among existing rappers.”

The main character who was fanning the flames was none other than Hadel Raines.

It was part of a promotion to cut the MTB REMIX stage at the Grammy Awards as a live version single.

“How is it? My skill in pulling lower cards?”

“Wow……. Aren’t you learning too fast for someone who is old?”

“The movie was fun, wasn’t it?”

Sanghyun, who was just laughing because he was dumbfounded, belatedly remembered something.

“So, that’s what you meant by ‘there is no promotion in Rolling Stone’?”

“Life is originally fun when there are foreshadowing and twists. Do you want me to tell you one more twist?”

“What is it?”

“The famous singer mentioned in The Problem is Kendrick, and the famous producer is LA Reid.”

“I lost.”

As Sanghyun smiled helplessly, Hadel added.

“You strangely don’t like promotions very much. Especially promotions in the same direction as now. But think about it this way. If the public really wasn’t curious about lip-syncing, would this promotion have worked? If your stage didn’t sound like lip-syncing, would it have worked?”

“It wouldn’t have.”

“Yeah. It’s a scam if you say something that’s not true is true, but decorating the truth dramatically is art. Rappers often do that, right? Are you really Julius Caesar? It’s just a dramatic metaphor.”

“I lost again.”

Sanghyun laughed helplessly once again.

However, it was not a smile that left an uncomfortable feeling somewhere like before.

“I’ve never seen a live performance like that before. I’ve seen so many stages, but. I’m sorry to Kendrick and Jay Cole, but this single cut is only a device to let you hear FiveSix’s rap. Oh, of course, I’m not saying that Kendrick and Cole didn’t do well. They are full of charm.”

“Don’t pay too much attention to me. Those two friends will shake up the hip-hop scene soon.”

“Don’t worry, I’m already deeply in love with Kendrick and Cole. And I’m the type who consciously puts more effort into the opposite side when this kind of situation occurs. I have a feeling that I’ll be able to see you whining for me to pay attention to you soon.”

“That would be a relief.”

Hadel patted Sanghyun on the shoulder.

“Now that my promotion is over, all that’s left is for you to decide. If you leave for New York the day after tomorrow, you can perform more than 50 times in 12 cities. It will take about 3 months, and the expected profit is about 2 million dollars.”

“Two million dollars?!”

“Why are you so surprised? The X Factor said that you can easily earn about 5 million dollars in Korea.”

“When did I say that? I just said that I could earn enough money in Korea.”

“That’s what I mean. Anyway, are you going to New York?”

Hadel asked Sanghyun.

Sanghyun was clearly trying to say that he needed some time to think, but the answer that came out of his mouth was different.

“No.”

“Why?”

“I want to make an album…… a solo album.”

“Not as Golden New Era but as FiveSix?”

“Until now, I rapped in the position of ‘Asian rapper who is discriminated against’. It was the biggest problem I faced, so all my consciousness was focused on that. But now I think I have overcome that problem enough to overcome it. The rest is a matter of time.”

“So?”

“Now I want to tell the story of Lee Sanghyun, like I did in Korea. Beyond the frame of racial discrimination.”

Hadel laughed coolly at Sanghyun’s words.

“What is this? All three of them are saying the same thing. Should I have lied and said it was 5 million dollars?”

“Did Kendrick and Cole also say they wouldn’t go to New York? Are these crazy bastards? Do they think 2 million dollars is a small amount?”

“Why are you spitting on your own face? Anyway, if the three of them release albums in 2009, they will fight like crazy. Aren’t you going to hurt each other?”

“I have to soothe them well. Because I’ll be number one.”

“Hahaha! Even this is the same?”

Sanghyun, who was listening to Hadel’s laughter, said.

“I’m sorry, Hadel. It would be more profitable for you if we went to New York.”

“It’s okay. Have you already forgotten the profits I made by selling MTB without doing anything? And if you knew how well I did with options investments during the Lehman Brothers crisis, you wouldn’t say that.”

“Are you talking about stocks now? This is like showing off wrinkles in front of a silkworm.”

“What movie is that line from again? Is it fun?”

Hadel frowned and Sanghyun burst into laughter.

Sanghyun decorated the Grammy Awards, which opened 2009, in a splendid way, and also released , achieving single platinum.

Usually, the sales of the live version are not high, but it was largely due to the fact that the public listened to it together because there was a lip-syncing controversy.

In other words, Hadel Raines’ promotion was a great success.

In the meantime, Eminem released We Made You and Crack A Bottle, the pre-release singles of Relapse.

Crack A Bottle immediately topped the Billboard Hot 100 the following week, announcing Eminem’s splendid comeback.

However, Sanghyun stepped away from all this glory related to him and was holed up in his studio in LA.

People predicted that FiveSix would be the hottest rapper after the Grammy Awards, and that prediction was very likely to come true.

However, it was only the end of March in 2009.

2009 was long.

< Verse 42. 2009 (End) > End

ⓒ